By Michael Vaughan

Sterling was to see some unexpected gains in this morning’s session following better than expected unemployment figures. Official figures showed fewer than expected Britons claimed unemployment benefit, the jobless rate surprisingly held steady and average earnings growth was not as weak as anticipated.  However, heading into the afternoon session much of these gains were wiped out as speculation rose about possible extensions of the Governments stimulus plan through the use of Quantitative Easing. This was again to highlight the importance of being in a position to act on spikes as in the current climate they will often be very short lived.